Over the past 12 hours, negotiating teams for school boards in the Addison-Rutland Supervisory Union and teachers in four towns that make up that union went back and forth in an effort to agree on a contract for the next few years.
At 5:30 a.m. today, a multiyear deal was reached, said Darren Allen of the Vermont-NEA.
The tentative agreement still has to be ratified by school boards in Castleton, Fair Haven, Benson and Orwell but it is likened to a done deal, Allen said.
“A lot was accomplished in 12 hours. Kudos to both teams,” Allen said.
He said Sue Corey, representative for the teachers and a teacher at Benson Village School, sent him a text message this morning, excited to be in class.
Details of the deal - base pay, raises and health benefits - for the next few years under the new contract were not made available this morning.
But, teachers said that if the boards continued to maintain a mandatory one-year contract that docked their pay an average $100 every paycheck, they would strike.
- Cristina Kumka